Edith Clarke
American electrical engineer (1884–1959)
Edith Clarke (February 10, 1883 – October 29, 1959) was an American electrical engineer and academic. Clarke specialized in electrical power system analysis and is credited with laying the foundation for the smart grid - helping the electric grid of the future grow, remain stable and reliable. She was the first person who used an analyzer to obtain data about power networks. The U.S. Department of Energy calls her efforts “the first step toward smart grid technology. She could be called the Smart Grid’s ‘Founding Mother.’”. She wrote the textbook used by power engineers for decades titled Circuit Analysis of A-C Power Systems.
Clarke's legacy includes being the first woman to be professionally employed as an electrical engineer in the United States and the first female professor of electrical engineering in the country. She was the first woman to deliver a paper at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
Early life and education
One of nine children, Edith Clarke was born in Howard County, Maryland to lawyer John Ridgely Clarke and Susan Dorsey Owings on February 10, 1883. After being orphaned at age 12, she was raised by an older sister.
“Edith Clarke” enters the record as american electrical engineer (1884–1959). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Edith, Clarke and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q21826. VIAF identifies the subject as 588150382194213500005. The Library of Congress control number is no2017109741. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1883 and 1959.
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This entry incorporates text from “Edith Clarke” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.